According to a recent report from the Pew Internet & American Life Project, 15% of American adults ages 18 and older do not use the Internet or email. This serves as a stark reminder that we cannot assume everyone has the same level of access or connectivity when it comes to modern forms of communication.

Of those respondents who do not use the Internet, 34% think the Internet is not relevant or interesting or it is something they do not want to use and/or have no need for. Less than one quarter of all non-users responded that they live in a household where someone else uses the Internet.

The survey conducted earlier this year used phone interviews with 2,252 adults who were 18 years old or older and cites a 95% confidence level that error attributable to sampling is plus or minus 2.3 percentage points.

While the survey does not indicate geographic locations of non-users, it does give a fairly clear description of the demographic groups most likely to be included. For example, non-users are more likely to be over the age of 65, live in a rural area and have limited education and income.

This information can be extremely beneficial for emergency managers who oversee populations that contain these types of demographics.

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The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project recently posted a report on how Americans use cell phones that showed the continued importance of text messaging as a communication tool. The report states that approximately 83% of adults in the United States own a cell phone and 73% of adult cell phone owners use the text messaging function on their phone at least occasionally.

Text message use varies widely based on age. Text messaging users send or receive more than 40 messages per day on average, with the median user sending or receiving 10 texts daily. However, cell phone owners between the ages of 18 and 24 exchange an average of 109.5 messages on a normal day!

Using cell phones for voice calling is still the primary function with just 4% of cell phone owners say that they make or receive no voice calls on an average day.

Cell phone owners make or receive an average of 12 voice calls per day, whereas 27% of cell phone owners do not use text messaging at all.